Control system based on viewable attention

ABSTRACT

Adaptive control of exposure. A proportional exposure cap is a maximum fraction applicable to a recipient&#39;s total viewable attention in a time window. The total viewable attention represents viewable area and exposure duration of all viewable advertising content which will be provided to the recipient. A notification of availability of an opportunity to expose a specified recipient to advertising content is received during the time window. The specified recipient&#39;s consumed viewable attention (representing viewable area and exposure duration of the advertising campaign&#39;s advertising content) is detected. The specified recipient&#39;s total viewable attention for the time window is predicted. Responsive to the maximum fraction of the specified recipient&#39;s predicted total viewable attention for the time window being greater than the consumed viewable attention of the specified recipient, the advertising campaign&#39;s advertising content is sent to the specified recipient and the consumed viewable attention is updated.

BACKGROUND Technical Field

This invention pertains to a control system for regulating the volume ofadvertising content delivered to a recipient based on the detectedviewable attention and predicted total viewable attention. Thisinvention is an adaptive control system for detecting, updating andtransferring exposure information between a plurality of systems,processing the exposure information and regulating the volume ofadvertising content delivered to a specified recipient based on theprocessed exposure information. Instructions for detecting exposureinformation can be distributed to a plurality of systems and operated atthe plurality of systems.

CLASSIFICATION

Class/Subclass: 709/224

DESCRIPTION OF RELATED ART

Advertisers seek to increase awareness and sales of their goods andservices through online advertising campaigns. Ideally, an advertisermay seek to repeatedly expose each recipient to advertising content,such as a banner ad displayed in conjunction with a web page on abrowser, in order to make an impact. Once an optimal exposure level isachieved, the cost of additional exposures is not commensurate with anincrease in the recipient's likelihood of conversion, resulting in aninefficient use of advertising budget. Furthermore, there is someevidence to indicate that overexposure to advertising content may harmsales or consumer opinion. Thus, when planning an advertising campaign,an advertiser may want to establish a maximum number of advertisingexposures per recipient for a time window, such as the duration of theadvertising campaign.

However, all recipients are not the same. For example, one recipienttargeted by an advertiser may be a heavy online user who spends asignificant amount of time online visiting a large number of differentwebsites which support advertisements; an advertiser may have thousandsof chances to purchase an opportunity to send advertising content to arecipient such as a heavy online user during a campaign. The heavyonline user can expect to receive advertising content from a widevariety of advertisers. With a small, fixed exposure cap, oneadvertiser's advertising content may represent a tiny fraction of thetotal advertising content viewed by the heavy online user, and theadvertiser's message may be dwarfed by the sheer volume of totaladvertising content. In contrast, a light online user may spend verylittle time online, and the websites the light online user visits maynot all include advertisements. An advertiser may have very few chancesto purchase an opportunity to send advertising content to a recipientsuch as a light online user during a campaign. A light online user mayonly receive advertising content from a small number of advertisers. Thesame small, fixed exposure cap which was applied to the heavy onlineuser may represent a large fraction of the total advertising contentviewed by the light online user, and the light online user may feeloverexposed.

Furthermore, a fixed exposure cap which limits the number of timesadvertising content is sent to a recipient, but does not make adistinction between advertising content that could have been viewed byan end-user (e.g. advertising content rendered on a screen) andadvertising content that could not have been viewed by an end-user (e.g.advertising content that was sent to a browser but never rendered on ascreen). A measure of the viewability of advertising content canincorporate a measure of the degree to which the advertising content wasdisplayed (e.g. area displayed, number of pixels displayed), the lengthof time the advertising content was displayed (e.g. 2 seconds onscreen), or both. To illustrate the need for taking viewability intoaccount when configuring an exposure cap, consider a case whereadvertising content is delivered to a browser, but never viewed by anend user operating the browser because the advertising content waspositioned “below the fold” on a web page and the end user did notscroll down the viewed web page far enough to see the ad content. Inanother example, advertising content may be sent to a browser, butpartially obscured by an item displayed on a monitor, such as a window.In another example, advertising content may be sent to a browser andfully displayed on the monitor, unobstructed, but may only be displayedfor less than one second which may not have been long enough toinfluence the end user in any meaningful way, and may not meet minimumviewability requirements.

What is needed is a control system for adaptively controlling eachrecipient's maximum number of exposures to an advertiser's advertisingcontent.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the invention include a method, a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium and a system for adaptively controllingrecipient exposure to an advertising campaign's advertising content. Aproportional exposure cap applicable to a plurality of recipients of anonline advertising campaign's advertising content is received. Theproportional exposure cap comprises a maximum fraction applicable to arecipient's total viewable attention in the time window. A recipient'stotal viewable attention represents a measure of the viewable area andthe exposure duration of all viewable advertising content (includingviewable content which has been provided and will be provided) to therecipient in the time window, including viewable advertising content ofa plurality of different online advertising campaigns. A notification ofavailability of an opportunity to expose a specified recipient toadvertising content is received at a receipt time within the timewindow. The specified recipient's consumed viewable attention withrespect to a portion of the time window preceding the receipt time isdetected. The specified recipient's consumed viewable attentioncomprises a measure of viewable area and exposure duration of the onlineadvertising campaign's advertising content provided to the specifiedrecipient. The specified recipient's total viewable attention for thetime window is predicted. Responsive to the maximum fraction of thespecified recipient's predicted total viewable attention for the timewindow being greater than the consumed viewable attention of thespecified recipient, the online advertising campaign's advertisingcontent is sent to the specified recipient. The specified recipient'supdated consumed viewable attention is detected with respect to aportion of the time window after the receipt time. Advantageously, anadvertising campaign which adaptively controls maximum exposure levelsproportional to the recipient's total viewable attention can be easilyconfigured and operated with a single proportional frequency cap whichcan be applied to a plurality of recipients with different advertisingexposure patterns. As a result, the maximum number of times advertisingcontent should be sent to a recipient is tailored to each recipientbased on the recipient's respective predicted total viewable attention.Because the predicted total viewable attention for a recipient canchange throughout an advertising campaign, the maximum number of timesadvertising content may be sent to the recipient can also change duringthe operation of an advertising campaign. This novel control systemautomatically scales an advertising campaign's delivery of advertisingcontent to a wide variety of recipients who may have very differenthistories of advertising exposure (e.g. a heavy Internet user whoprimarily visits advertising-funded websites compared to a lightInternet user who primarily visits premium advertising-free websites) aswell as recipients with bursty or changing advertising content exposurepatterns; advantageously, operating an advertising campaign according tothe adaptive control method results in a an exposure cap (representingthe maximum number of exposures to the advertising campaign'sadvertising content) which can change and adapt for each individualrecipient during an advertising campaign without requiringreconfiguration. Importantly, because only viewable advertising contentis expected to have an impact on the recipient, the consumed viewableattention and the predicted total viewable attention are determinedbased on viewable attention, which can account for both the viewablearea and the exposure duration of advertising content sent to therecipients and excludes contributions from advertising content which isdeemed unlikely to have an impact on the end user, such as advertisingcontent which does not meet minimum viewability standards (e.g. minimumarea exposed, minimum exposure duration, etc.).

Embodiments of the computer-readable storage medium storecomputer-executable instructions for performing the steps describedabove. Embodiments of the system further comprise a processor forexecuting the computer-executable instructions.

The features and advantages described in the specification are not allinclusive and, in particular, many additional features and advantageswill be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art in view of thedrawings, specification, and claims. Moreover, it should be noted thatthe language used in the specification has been principally selected forreadability and instructional purposes, and may not have been selectedto delineate or circumscribe the inventive subject matter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

Figure (FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram of a computing environmentfor an adaptive control system, in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention.

FIG. 2 is an interaction diagram illustrating adaptive control, inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method of adaptive control, inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 4 is a high-level block diagram of the components of a computingsystem for use, for example, as browser 110, consumption history server120, publisher 130, advertisement exchange 140, or control system 150depicted in FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

The figures depict embodiments of the present invention for purposes ofillustration only. One skilled in the art will readily recognize fromthe following description that alternative embodiments of the structuresand methods illustrated herein may be employed without departing fromthe principles of the invention described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Embodiments of the invention provide a method, a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium and a system for adaptively controllingrecipient exposure to an advertising campaign's advertising content.Advantageously, the maximum number of times an advertiser's advertisingcontent can be sent to a specified recipient is adaptively controlledbased on the specified recipient's history of viewable advertisingcontent exposure, including both the consumed viewable attention (ameasure of viewable area and exposure duration of the advertisingcampaign's advertising content provided to the specified recipient) andthe predicted total viewable attention (which includes a prediction ofthe viewable area and exposure duration of all advertising content whichwill be provided to the specified recipient during the time window).This novel control system overcomes the disadvantages of a fixedexposure cap (e.g. a fixed number of exposures per recipient), which maynot suit a plurality of recipients with differing browsing behaviors.Furthermore, an individual recipient's predicted total viewableattention may fluctuate significantly over time, and the adaptivecontrol system can dynamically adapt to such fluctuations, avoidingunderexposure for recipients having low predicted total viewableattention early in a time window and high predicted total viewableattention late in a time window. Incorporating the concept of totalviewable attention into the proportional exposure cap is especiallyimportant because it takes into account viewable advertising contentexposure which is related to the individual recipient's browsing style(e.g. visitation to ad-free websites vs. visitation to ad-sponsoredwebsites, scrolling behavior, windowing behavior, web page residencetime). Configuration is simplified through the use of a proportionalexposure cap which is applicable to a plurality of recipients of theonline advertising campaign's advertising content.

Embodiments of the invention are described below in the context of areal-time bidding advertisement exchange for opportunities to displayadvertisements to users through their web browsers. It is noted thatsimilar techniques as those described below can be used in targetingadvertisements in the context of other kinds of auctions andadvertisement exchange systems, for use with browser-basedadvertisements or other types of networked media as well. Suchtechniques are particularly useful where rapid decisions regardingadvertisement opportunities are desirable.

FIG. 1 is a high-level block diagram of a computing environment for anadaptive control system 160, in accordance with an embodiment of theinvention. The computing environment includes users' browsers 110, aconsumption history server 120, publishers 130, an advertisementexchange 140, and a control system 150. These elements are connected bya communication network 160, such as a local area network, a wide areanetwork, a wireless network, an intranet, a cable network, a satellitenetwork, a cellular phone network, an optical network, the Internet orcombinations thereof.

A recipient can be an application such as a user's browser. A browsercan be a web browser executing on a user device, such as a desktopcomputer or a mobile phone, as the users of those devices browse theweb. As users undertake their normal web browsing activities using thebrowsers 110, in one embodiment, data for some events, such as mediaconsumption events (e.g. web page views, exposures to advertisingcontent), is reported to the consumption history server 120. The dataenables the consumption history server 120 to record events in a datastore 122 in conjunction with an anonymous identifier, such as a cookievalue, and a timestamp. The received data may also enable theconsumption history server 120 to record other data about the browser110, the operating system that operates the browser 110 as well as othercharacteristics of the system that operates the browser (e.g., screenresolution).

A recipient can represent a networked consumer and can be a device (e.g.a mobile device, wearable device or a desktop computer) or anapplication (e.g. a cell phone game, cell phone application). Forexample, an application can be executed on a user device, such as apersonal computer, laptop computer, tablet computer, smartphone, aspecialized hardware gaming device and a wearable device. In oneembodiment, as users undertake their normal activities usingapplications, devices or both, data for some events, such as mediaconsumption events, interactions with an application, status events, andadvertising content exposures is reported to the consumption historyserver 120. The data enables the consumption history server 120 torecord events in a data store 122 in conjunction with a recipient'sanonymous identifier, such as a device identifier, applicationidentifier or both. The received data may also enable the consumptionhistory server 120 to record other data about the recipient, such as theoperating system operating on the device, characteristics of therecipient (e.g., screen resolution, application version, patch level)and a device or application status (e.g. points accumulated playing acell phone game, battery charging status).

When data describing events is reported to a consumption history server120, each reported event is associated with an identifier to enable theconsumption history server 120 to properly assign the event to therecipient related to the event. Examples of recipients can include endusers, customers, software installations or hardware devices used toaccess content over a network or combinations thereof. Softwareinstallations can include a web browser instance, video viewer instanceor set-top box software residing on a hardware device. A hardware devicecan comprise a computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), cell phone, anetworked gaming device, an augmented reality (AR) system or set-topunit (STU) such as a STU used in conjunction with cable televisionservice. In some cases, a recipient represents an individual person, andin other cases a recipient represents a combination of individuals whichare logically grouped together, such as but not limited to a family, ahousehold, a social network, a business, a department, or a team.

Recipients, such as browsers 110 which receive content, such as a webpage or advertising content, from a publisher 130, such as a mobilewebsite, can also be called a visitor to that publisher (e.g. a websitevisitor). A publisher 130 sends content to a recipient, such as abrowser 110, over a network. In some cases, content may be streamed froma publisher 130 to a recipient such as a browser 110. A web page,advertising content, audio content, video content, multimedia content,and downloadable software are examples of content. A browser 110 canreceive content, from a publisher 130 or a proxy of the publisher 130.

A variety of methods exist for associating an anonymous identifier witha recipient. For example, a hardware device identifier such as a MediaAccess Control Address (MAC address), an International Mobile StationEquipment Identity (IMEI), a Mobile Equipment Identifier (MEID), or anElectronic Serial Number (ESN) can be stored on a device operated by auser to access content over a network. As another example, a softwareidentifier such as a cookie value, an application identifier, anapplication installation identifier, or an operating system identifiersuch as an Android ID or Unique Device ID (UDID) can be locally stored.In other embodiments, identifiers can be composed and/or stored remotelyfrom a device associated with a recipient. In some cases, a recipient,such as a browser, can have multiple identifiers, such as multiple firstparty cookies and multiple third party cookies, which can be used toidentify the browser to various systems.

The advertisement exchange 140 is a technology platform that facilitatesthe selling and buying of opportunities to expose recipients toadvertising content, referred to as advertising slots. Publishers 130offer advertising slots for sale through an advertisement exchange 140.Some advertisement exchanges operate as an auction where advertisers cansubmit bids to buy advertising slots in real-time. In such cases, theadvertisement exchange sends notifications to potential bidders. Eachnotification can indicate the availability of an opportunity to expose aspecified recipient to advertising content. A notification may includeseveral characteristics that may influence an immediate decision aboutif and how much an advertiser is willing to bid for the privilege ofsending advertising content to a specified recipient. For example, thenotification may include information identifying the publisher (e.g. amobile application or website) having the available opportunity, thetopic of the webpage having the available opportunity, the dimensions ofthe available slot, and an identifier that can be used by the potentialbidder to look up or cross-reference related information about thespecified recipient, such as the specified recipient's frequency on thesite and/or other data in the specified recipient's history. Thenotification may comprise a request for a bid price for the givenopportunity, a request for advertising content or both. A bid request,which is an invitation for a bidder to submit a bid price for theopportunity to expose a specified recipient to advertising content, isan example of a notification that can be sent to a bidder. Asillustrated in FIG. 1, the advertisement exchange 140 communicates,either directly or indirectly, with a bidder such as an advertisingcampaign operations system or a control system 150. In an embodiment,response control module 178 of the control system 150 may operate as abidding module, receiving notifications from advertisement exchange 140and sending responses to the notifications (i.e. bid responses inresponse to a bid request) to advertisement exchange 140. A bid responsemay comprise a bid price, advertising content, directions for acquiringadvertising content, advertising content customization instructions, orcombinations thereof.

Control system 150 comprises a configuration module 152, a detectionmodule 154, a prediction module 156 module, a response control module158 and a data store 160. In FIG. 1, consumption history server 120 isillustrated as external to control system 150. However, in anembodiment, consumption history server 120 may be internal to controlsystem 150.

Configuration module 152 receives a proportional exposure cap applicableto a plurality of recipients of an advertising campaign's advertisingcontent. The maximum number of times a specified recipient will be sentadvertising content of the advertising campaign is proportional to thespecified recipient's total viewable attention in a time window. Theproportional exposure cap comprises a maximum fraction or percentage ofa recipient's total viewable attention in a time window.

A recipient's total viewable attention is a measure of viewable area andexposure duration of all viewable advertising content which will beprovided to the recipient in a time window. A time window may representthe duration of an advertising campaign or portion thereof. During atime window, a heavy internet user who visits many differentadvertising-sponsored websites will be sent a larger number of items ofadvertising content than a light Internet user who visits only a fewpremium, advertising-free websites. A recipient may receive multipleitems of advertising content associated with many different advertisingcampaigns in the context of a plurality of different publishers during atime window. For example, during a time window, a recipient may browse aplurality of different websites; in conjunction with each website visit,the recipient may receive multiple items of advertising content (e.g.banner ads, video ads, pop-up ads), and be exposed to advertisingcontent associated with a variety of different advertisers and products.Importantly, a recipient's total viewable attention reflects thatrecipient's total viewable exposure to advertising content for the timewindow, and takes into account the viewability (e.g. area of advertisingcontent exposed, duration of advertising content exposure or both) ofmultiple items of advertising content sent to the recipient.

In an example, an amount of viewable attention can be determined foreach item of advertising content sent to a recipient. A recipient'stotal viewable attention can be predicted by summing the amounts ofviewable attention associated with items of advertising content sent toa recipient during the portion of the time window which has alreadyelapsed and estimating the viewable attention associated with items ofadvertising content which will be sent to the recipient during theremainder of the time window. In an example, a recipient's totalviewable attention may exclude contributions from advertising contentwhich is deemed unlikely to have an impact on the end user, such asadvertising content which does not meet minimum viewability standards(e.g. minimum area exposed, minimum exposure duration, etc.).

In some embodiments, the amount of viewable attention associated with asingle item of advertising content sent to a recipient can be subject toa duration cap. For example, a measure of viewable attention mayincrease with exposure duration for an individual advertising contentexposure of up to a duration cap (e.g. two minutes), and then notincrease for that individual advertising content exposures once theduration cap has been surpassed. In some cases, the amount of viewableattention associated with a single item of advertising content sent to arecipient can be subject to a minimum exposure duration (e.g. thirtyseconds). For example, a measure of viewable attention may be set tozero until the item of advertising content has been viewable for atleast the minimum exposure duration, and then increase with exposureduration for advertising content exposures, possibly subject to aduration cap.

In some embodiments, the area of advertising content exposed may bemeasured in terms of an area (e.g. square inches), a number of pixels(e.g. 300×250 pixels or 75,000 pixels), the relative proportion of adisplay screen (e.g. 10% of screen real estate), or combinationsthereof. In an example, viewable attention and total viewable attentioncan be measured in terms of area multiplied by time. For example,viewable attention and total viewable attention can be expressed inunits of square inch-minutes, a number of pixels multiplied by time(e.g. pixel-minutes), or a time (e.g. 10% of a display or windowviewable for 60 seconds would result in 6 seconds of viewableattention).

In some embodiments, viewable attention and total viewable attention cantake into account other aspects of viewability in addition to or insteadof area of advertising content exposed and duration of advertisingcontent exposed. For example, in some cases, a determination of viewableattention and total viewable attention can take into accountinteractions with advertising content. For example, an interaction withadvertising content can be deemed an indication that the advertisingcontent was viewed by an end user; in this case, if an interaction withadvertising content is detected with respect to a particular advertisingcontent exposure, the area of advertising content may be set to themaximum viewable area for that exposure. Examples of interactionsinclude scrolling, clicking, hovering with a mouse, and manipulatingaudio or video content through fast forwarding, rewinding, pausing, etc.In an example, hardware configuration, software configuration or bothmay be aspects of viewability. For example, advertising content whichincludes an audio component may only be considered viewable if minimumcriteria related to audio delivery are met by the recipient such as aminimum hardware volume setting, a minimum software volume setting, thepresence of a required installation of software such as an audio playerplug-in, or combinations thereof.

A recipient's total viewable attention in a time window represents theviewable attention of all of the advertising content which will be sentto the recipient in the time window (including advertising content whichhas already been sent); this can include advertising content associatedwith a plurality of different advertisers, advertising content receivedin the context of a plurality of different publishers or combinationsthereof. Advertising slots may be purchased directly from a publisher(e.g. premium advertising slots), through one or more differentadvertisement exchanges or advertising networks, or combinationsthereof. Accordingly, a recipient's total viewable attention canrepresent advertising content which was acquired by or on behalf of anadvertiser through a plurality of different sources (e.g. multipledifferent exchanges, a combination of exchanges and publishers, multipledifferent publishers).

Advantageously, the maximum number of times a specified recipient willbe sent advertising content of the advertising campaign in a time windowadapts to the specified recipient's total viewable attention in the timewindow. Each recipient of the advertiser's advertising content mayreceive a customized volume of advertising content of the advertiserbased on their history of receiving viewable advertising content from aplurality of advertisers in the context of a plurality of publishers. Arecipient's viewable attention accumulates during the time window and arecipient's predicted total viewable attention can change during thetime window. Typically, a recipient's accumulation of viewable attentiondoes not occur at a constant rate throughout the time window. Forexample, a recipient may have periods of intense browsing of advertisingsupported websites (resulting in a rapid accumulation of viewableattention), periods of low browsing activity of premium ad-free websites(resulting in a slow accumulation of viewable attention) and periods ofinactivity. Because a recipient's predicted total viewable attention ina time window can change throughout the time window, the proportionalexposure cap (which is a maximum fraction applicable to a recipient'stotal viewable attention in the time window) translates into a maximumnumber of times advertising content of the advertiser can be sent to therecipient which can change during the time window; the maximum number oftimes advertising content of the advertiser can be sent to the recipientcan adapt dynamically as the recipient's changing browsing behaviorsresult in viewable exposures to advertising content from a variety ofadvertisers.

Detection module 154 receives viewability information and determines theconsumed viewable attention of recipients of the advertising campaign'sadvertising content with respect to a portion of a time window. Theconsumed viewable attention of a specified recipient of the advertisingcampaign's advertising content comprises a measured, estimated orinferred viewable area and exposure duration for all of the advertisingcampaign's advertising content provided to the specified recipientduring a portion of the time window. In some cases, the viewabilityinformation can comprise information associated with end-userinteraction with advertising content (e.g. mouse over, click through).In some cases, user interaction with advertising content may be detectedusing information collected from a hardware device or hardware componentassociated with the recipient. The detection module 154 can determinethe consumed viewable attention of a recipient responsive to a request(e.g. a request for the consumed viewable attention of a specifiedrecipient from the response control module 156) or responsive toreceiving updated information (e.g. from a specified recipient or aviewability system). In some cases, the detection module 154 may receiveinformation, such as a notification that a recipient has changed theirmedia consumption behavior, and update the recipient's consumed viewableattention responsive to the notification of changed behavior. Examplesof changes are: an increase or decrease in the number of web sitesvisited a day by the recipient, an increase or decrease in therecipient's average residence time per web page, and increase ordecrease in the number of opportunities to expose the recipient toadvertising content per day, or combinations thereof. For example, achange in a recipient's media consumption behavior may be detected bythe control system 150, a consumption history server 120, or therecipient 110.

In an example, a recipient (e.g. browser 110) or a system, such as aviewability system (not shown), can determine viewability information,such as the consumed viewable attention associated with an individualitem of advertising content sent to a specified recipient, and send thisviewability information to the control system 150 in conjunction with anidentifier associated with the specified recipient. In an example, theviewability information can further comprise a time stamp indicatingwhen the individual item of advertising content was sent to thespecified recipient. With this information, the detection module 154 candetect, with respect to a portion of a time window, a consumed viewableattention of the specified recipient with respect to the advertisingcampaign's advertising content sent to the specified recipient. In anexample, the consumed viewable attention in a time window (e.g. the timewindow of a campaign) preceding the receipt time of a notification canbe estimated by scaling a measure of the specified recipient's consumedviewable attention of just a portion of the time window preceding thereceipt time.

A variety of techniques for detecting viewability information are knownin the art such as resource-based viewability techniques and geometrictechniques. In an example, the advertising campaign's advertisingcontent can be instrumented with software which can operate at therecipient to detect the viewability (e.g. measure viewable area, measureexposure duration, detect end-user interaction with the advertisingcontent) of advertising content rendered on a device and sendviewability information to a viewability system, the control system 150or both. For example, instructions can be embedded in advertisingcontent sent to a recipient (e.g. browser 110), such as instructions forrequesting and running a Java script which detects viewabilityinformation of advertising content that is rendered in a browser 110 andsends the viewability information to the control system 150. Advertisingcontent can be instrumented by embedding the Java script's tag inadvertising content that will be rendered in a browser 110. In anexample, the viewability of advertising content can be inferred byinstrumenting an ad container (such as an I-frame) to detect and reporton the viewability of advertising content rendered in the ad container.In an example, the viewability of advertising content may be determinedor inferred using information received from a hardware device orhardware component associated with the recipient.

Prediction module 156 predicts the total viewable attention for aspecified recipient for a time window, such as the duration of anadvertising campaign or a portion thereof. A recipient's total viewableattention represents a measure of the viewable area and the exposureduration of all viewable advertising content which will be provided tothe recipient in the time window, including viewable advertising contentof a plurality of different online advertising campaigns. In an example,the prediction module 156 may use a model to predict the total viewableattention of a specified recipient. For example, the prediction module156 may receive information about a specified recipient, such as a mediaconsumption history from consumption history server 120 and predict thetotal viewable attention of the specified recipient from the receivedmedia consumption history. In an example, media consumption histories,including advertising content viewability information and websitevisitation histories, may be collected for a panel of browsers (i.e.panelists). A model may be developed which correlates a panelist's totalviewable attention with the panelist's website visitation history (e.g.websites visited, website visit frequency, website residency times), thepanelist's history of interactions (e.g. advertising content clickthrough, scrolling behavior), information related to the panelist (e.g.browser version, hardware configuration, software configuration,geographic region) or combinations thereof. The model may be applied tothe received media consumption history of a specified recipient topredict the total viewable attention of the specified recipient for atime window, wherein at least some portion of the time window is afuture time span.

In an example, a model to predict a specified recipient's total viewableattention may be developed without the use of a panel. For example, awebsite operator can estimate or determine the website audience's totalviewable attention (i.e. the total viewable attention of each visitor tothe website summed together) and unique audience size (i.e. number ofunique visitors in the website's audience) for a time period (e.g. amonth). The control system 150 can receive website level information(e.g. the website audience's total viewable attention and number ofunique visitors in the website's audience for a time period) from aplurality of websites and estimate a specified recipient's totalviewable attention for a campaign's time window using the website levelinformation and the specified recipient's website visitation history(e.g. list of websites visited, residency time per website visited).

In an example, a specified recipient's total viewable attention can beinferred from a media consumption history. For example, a consumptionhistory server 120 can receive a specified recipient's browsing history.The control system 150 may estimate that the consumption historycollected by the consumption history server 120 represents one fourth ofthe browsing history of each recipient. A recipient's viewable attentionfor all advertising content over a time period (e.g. a day) as measuredby the consumption history server 120 may be determined, and then scaledto estimate the total viewable attention for the duration of anadvertising campaign (e.g. multiply by 4 to scale for the fraction ofthe browsing history which was not collected by the consumption historyserver and multiply by 30 to account for a 30 day advertising campaign).

Response control module 158 receives notifications and determinesresponses to the notifications based on received and detectedinformation (e.g. a proportional exposure cap from the configurationmodule 152, a consumed viewable attention from detection module 154, atotal viewable attention from prediction module 156). The responsecontrol module 158 receives a notification indicating that anopportunity to expose a specified recipient to advertising content isavailable at a time within the advertising campaign's time window. Forexample, the notification can be a bid request from an advertisementexchange 140 or a notification from a publisher 130. The responsecontrol module determines if the proportional exposure cap has beensatisfied for the advertising campaign's time window. A proportionalexposure cap has been satisfied for a time window if the maximumfraction of the specified recipient's total viewable attention is lessthan or equal to the specified recipient's consumed viewable attentionin the time window preceding the receipt time. Responsive to determiningthat the proportional exposure cap is not satisfied for the advertisingcampaign's time window, the response control module 158 generates aresponse to the notification. A response to a notification can comprisea bid price, advertising content, customized advertising content,instructions for acquiring advertising content, advertising contentcustomization instructions, or combinations thereof. The responsecontrol module 158 can send the generated response to one or moresystems such as an advertisement exchange 140, a recipient such as abrowser 110, a publisher 130 or combinations thereof.

In some cases, an absolute frequency cap (e.g. 50 exposures/recipient)limiting the absolute number of times advertising content may be sent toan individual recipient in the course of an advertising campaign may beimplemented in conjunction with the proportional exposure cap; in thiscase, response control module 158 determines if both the proportionalexposure cap and the absolute frequency cap have been satisfied and,responsive to the determining that both the proportional exposure capand the absolute frequency cap have been satisfied, response controlmodule 158 can generate a response and send the generated response toone or more systems such as an advertisement exchange 140, a recipientsuch as a browser 110 and a publisher 130 or combinations thereof.

Determining if a proportional exposure cap for a time window has beensatisfied for a specified recipient requires comparing the maximumfraction of the specified recipient's total viewable attention for thetime window to the specified recipient's consumed viewable attention ata point in the time window. Importantly, the prediction module 156 canbe operated to predict the total viewable attention for a time windowfor a specified recipient multiple times during a time window. In anexample, the prediction module's initial predictions of total viewableattention can be too high early in a time window, but adjust downwardslater in the time window. For example, a recipient may rapidlyaccumulate viewable attention early in a time window, but accumulatevery slowly later in the time window. In an embodiment, the predictionmodule may predict a very high total viewable attention for the wholetime window based on the information available early in the time window,but later predictions by the prediction module may take into account theslowed accumulation of viewable attention and adjust the estimated totalviewable attention to a lower value. In this case, the control systemmay determine that the proportional exposure cap has not been satisfiedearly in the time window, but later determine that the proportionalexposure cap has been exceeded later in the time window. Similarly, theprediction module's initial predictions of total viewable attention canbe too low for a recipient having a very slow accumulation of viewableattention early in a time window, but the total viewable attention canbe adjusted if the recipient's viewable attention accumulates rapidlylater in the time window. In this case, the control system may determinethat the proportional exposure cap has been satisfied early in the timewindow, but determine that the proportional exposure cap has not beensatisfied at a time later in the time window.

For clarity, FIG. 1 has illustrated only one instance of anadvertisement exchange 140. In practice, a control system 150 mayreceive notifications from a plurality of different advertisementexchanges.

FIG. 2 is an interaction diagram illustrating adaptive control, inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. It is noted that FIG. 2is merely illustrating an example of a real-time bidding environment,and the interactions depicted in FIG. 2 may vary in other examples.

In the scenario illustrated in FIG. 2, the recipient of the advertisingcontent is a browser 110. As a user operates browser 110 and navigatesto a publisher's website that includes an advertising slot to beauctioned in an advertisement exchange 140, the publisher's web serversends instructions to the browser 110 for accessing content to bedisplayed on the website, including a coded link known as an “ad tag”that points to an advertisement exchange 140. The browser 110 uses thead tag to contact the advertisement exchange 140 with a request foradvertising content (request ad) in step 201.

The advertisement exchange 140 receives the request for the advertisingcontent from the browser 110 and reads the identifier. In response, theadvertisement exchange starts the auction by sending a notification 202,which in this case is a bid request, to the control system 150 and toother servers to notify potential bidders of the bidding opportunity.Included with the bid request is an identifier and other data describingthe bid opportunity, such as, for example, the URL on which theadvertising content will be delivered, the topic of the webpage on whichthe advertising content will appear, site visit frequency, and/or thedimensions of the advertising slot.

The control system 150 receives the notification 202, and may match theidentifier delivered from the advertisement exchange 140 to arecipient's corresponding identifier that is linked to a rich set ofdata, such as the consumption history. In one embodiment, to access theconsumption history, the control system 150 requests it from theconsumption history server 120.

In step 203, control system 150 detects the consumed viewable attentionof the recipient associated with the corresponding identifier for theadvertising campaign at a time in the time window. The consumed viewableattention at a point in time is a measure or estimate of the viewablearea and exposure duration of the advertising campaign's advertisingcontent sent to the recipient in the time window up to that point intime. In an example, the consumed viewable attention in the time window(e.g. the time window of a campaign) preceding the receipt time of anotification can be estimated by scaling a measure of the specifiedrecipient's consumed viewable attention of just a portion of the timewindow preceding the receipt time. Depending on the implementation ofthe control system 150, the consumed viewable attention of the recipientcan be estimated or determined based on historic viewabilityinformation. In some cases, the viewability information may be receivedfrom the consumption history server 120.

In step 204, control system 150 predicts the total viewable attention ofthe recipient for the time window (e.g. duration of the advertisingcampaign). A recipient's total viewable attention reflects the viewablearea and exposure duration of all advertising content which has beenreceived and which will be received by the recipient during the timewindow.

In step 205, control system 150 determines if the proportional exposurecap has been satisfied. In an example, the control system 150 operatesan advertising campaign on behalf of an advertiser. The advertisingcampaign is configured with a proportional exposure cap for a timewindow, such as the duration of an advertising campaign. Theproportional exposure cap comprises a maximum fraction which isapplicable to a recipient's total viewable attention. The proportionalexposure cap is satisfied for a specified recipient if the maximumfraction the specified recipient's predicted total viewable attentionfor the time window is less than or equal to the specified recipient'sconsumed viewable attention at a time in the time window. The controlsystem 150 determines if the maximum fraction of recipient's predictedtotal viewable attention is greater than the recipient's consumedviewable attention, which indicates that the proportional exposure capis not satisfied. Responsive to the determining that the proportionalexposure cap has not been satisfied, the control system generates aresponse to the notification 202. In some cases, additionalconsiderations may be applied before the response to the notification isgenerated, before the response is sent or both. For example, the controlsystem 150 may receive pacing limitations and apply the pacinglimitations in addition to the proportional exposure cap to determine ifit is appropriate to generate and/or send a response. By applying apacing limitation, an advertiser can spread out a recipient's exposureto their advertising content over time (e.g. across a time window, overthe duration of the campaign, per hour, per day). A pacing limitationcan comprise an upper limit to the number of items of an advertiser'sadvertising content which can be sent to a recipient per unit time (e.g.an advertiser's advertising content cannot be sent to the same recipientmore than 5 times in an hour), an upper limit to the consumed viewableattention per recipient per unit time (e.g. once a recipient's consumedviewable attention reaches an upper limit in a day, prevent the controlsystem from sending the advertiser's advertising content to thatrecipient until the next day) or both. In another example, a pacinglimitation can be used to limit the number of times an advertiser'sadvertising content is displayed through the same website (e.g. anadvertiser's advertising content cannot be sent to the same recipientmore than 5 times in an hour in the context of the same web page).

A response 206 comprising a bid price and ad redirect is sent to theadvertisement exchange 140. An ad redirect provides instructions fordirecting the browser to a server that will serve the advertisingcontent for the advertising campaign should the control system 150 winthe auction.

In step 207, advertisement exchange 140 determines an auction winnerfrom the submitted bids. In some implementations, the advertisementexchange 140 may send a second notification to the winner and/or theother bidders. The second notification may include an indication ofwhether the bidder won the auction, and may confirm the amount that thewinner will be charged for buying the ad placement, which is some casesis the amount of the second highest bid.

In step 208, the advertisement exchange 140 sends the ad redirectincluded with the winning bid to the browser 110. The browser 110 usesthe ad redirect to access the advertising content so that the browsercan display the advertising content in step 209.

In step 210, viewability information is sent from the browser 110.Viewability information can comprise a measure or estimate of theviewable area of the advertising content displayed on the browser and ameasure or estimate of the exposure duration of the advertising content.In this example, the viewability information is sent to the controlsystem 150. In an embodiment, viewability information can be sent toanother system in addition to the control system 150 or instead of thecontrol system 150, such as the consumption history server 120, whichcan store the information in data store 122.

In step 211, the consumed viewable attention of the recipient is updatedto include viewability information sent in step 210.

In some implementations, the process illustrated in steps 201 through210 of FIG. 2 can be executed in a few seconds. Ideally, the timepassage between the browser 110 requesting the advertising content instep 201 and the display of the advertising content in step 209 is shortenough not to impact the user's enjoyment of the publisher's websitethat the user is browsing. In other words, there is no noticeable lag todownload and display the appropriate advertising content of the winningbidder in the auction.

Although the interaction diagram of FIG. 2 illustrates the operation ofan embodiment of the adaptive control system 150 in a real-time biddingenvironment. However, in an embodiment, some publishers may sell some orall of their advertising slots without going through an advertisementexchange. In this case, instead of inter-operating with the advertisingexchange 140, the browser 110 may request advertising content in step201 from the publisher or send a notification (i.e. the request foradvertising content) directly to the control system 150. Depending onthe configuration, the control system 150 can send the response to thepublisher or directly to the browser 110. In this case, the response cancomprise the advertising content, instructions for accessing advertisingcontent, advertising content customization instructions or combinationsthereof.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method of adaptive control, inaccordance with an embodiment of the invention. In some implementations,the steps are performed in an order other than the order presented inFIG. 3, and in other implementations, additional or alternative stepsmay be performed.

In step 301, a campaign configuration is received by the control system150. The campaign configuration comprises a proportional exposure cap.The campaign configuration can comprise additional information foroperating an advertising campaign on behalf of an advertiser such as atime window for the campaign, a budget for the campaign, recipienttargeting information, a campaign budget, or combinations thereof.

In step 302, a notification is received by the control system 150. In anembodiment, the notification can comprise a bid request sent from anadvertisement exchange 140, a notification of the availability if anopportunity to expose a specified recipient to advertising content froma publisher 130. The notification is received at a receipt time within atime window, such as the time window during which the advertisingcampaign operates. In an example, the notification is received at thecontrol system 150 after a recipient such as browser 110 requestscontent from a publisher 140 (e.g. after a browser requests a web pagefrom a web site), after a recipient such as browser 110 requestsadvertising content (e.g. after a browser operates instructions providedby a website for requesting advertising content), or both.

In step 303, the control system 150 detects the consumed viewableattention of the specified recipient with respect to a portion of thetime window preceding the receipt time. For example, the control system150 can detect the consumed viewable attention responsive to receivingthe notification. In an embodiment, the control system 150 may keep arespective running tally of the consumed viewable attention for each ofa plurality of recipients, and the consumed viewable attention may bedetected before the notification is received. In an embodiment, thecontrol system 150 may request viewability information or the consumedviewable attention from the consumption history server 120 or anexternal viewability system (not shown).

In step 304, the specified recipient's total viewable attention for thetime window, including predicted viewable attention for a portion of thetime window in the future, is predicted for the time window. In anembodiment, the specified recipient's total viewable attention may bepredicted responsive to receiving the notification. In an example, thespecified recipient's total viewable attention may not be predictedevery time a notification of an opportunity to expose the specifiedrecipient to advertising content is received. For example, if aspecified recipient's total viewable attention has been predicted veryrecently (e.g. within the past minute), the control system may opt tore-use the recently predicted total viewable attention.

In step 305, the control system 150 determines if the proportionalexposure cap has been satisfied for the specified recipient. The maximumfraction of the specified recipient's predicted total viewable attentionfor the time window is compared to the consumed viewable attention ofthe specified recipient.

In step 306, responsive to the maximum fraction of the specifiedrecipient's predicted total viewable attention for the time window beingless than the consumed viewable attention of the specified recipient(i.e. the proportional exposure cap is not satisfied), a response to thenotification is generated by the control system 150. In an example, aresponse to the notification is sent (or caused to be sent) to thespecified recipient; the response can comprise advertising content,customized advertising content, instructions for accessing advertisingcontent, instructions for customizing advertising content, instructionsfor detecting viewability of advertising content, instructions forreporting on viewability of advertising content, or combinationsthereof. In an embodiment, the notification can be a bid request from anadvertisement exchange 140 and a response to the bid request can begenerated by the control system 150 and sent to the advertisementexchange 140. In an embodiment, the consumed viewable attention of thespecified recipient can be detected and updated after the response tothe notification is sent so that the next time a notification of theavailability of another opportunity to expose the specified recipient toadvertising content is received by the control system 150, the controlsystem 150 can use the updated consumed viewable attention to rapidlydetermine an appropriate response.

In step 307, responsive to the maximum fraction of the specifiedrecipient's predicted total viewable attention for the time window beingless than or equal to the consumed viewable attention of the specifiedrecipient (i.e. the proportional exposure cap is satisfied), the controlsystem 150 may consider sending advertising content of anotheradvertising campaign to the specified recipient.

Publisher Premium Ad Buy Use Case

In an example embodiment, an advertiser may be interested in adaptivelycontrolling recipient exposure with a proportional exposure cap inconjunction with pre-purchased premium advertising opportunities.Typically a premium advertising inventory comprises a number ofopportunities to expose a recipient to advertising content in a knowncontext, such as a specific website or web page. In comparison toadvertising opportunities that are auctioned through an exchange,premium inventory can be expensive and is highly valued by advertiserswho are particularly sensitive to context. In an embodiment, a controlsystem can receive a campaign configuration comprising a proportionalexposure cap. When a recipient visits a publisher (e.g. browses apublisher's webpage) an opportunity for the publisher to serve therecipient may become available (e.g. an opportunity to serve therecipient a banner ad in conjunction with the publisher's webpage). Thepublisher can send a notification to the control system that anopportunity to expose a specified recipient to advertising content hasbecome available; this opportunity is associated with a pre-purchased adslot. The control system detects the consumed viewable attention of thespecified recipient associated with the advertiser's advertising contentwith respect to a portion of the time window preceding the receipt time(e.g. the entire time between the start of the time window and thereceipt time), which can include consumed viewable attention associatedwith he advertisier's advertising content delivered in the context of aplurality of publishers. The control system predicts the specifiedrecipient's total viewable attention for the time window, including atleast a portion of the time window in the future, which can includeviewable attention for advertising content displayed by other publishersand advertising content associated with other advertisers. The controlsystem determines if the proportional exposure cap has been satisfiedfor the specified recipient by comparing the maximum fraction of thespecified recipient's predicted total viewable attention for the timewindow to the consumed viewable attention of the specified recipient.Responsive to the maximum fraction of the specified recipient'spredicted total viewable attention for the time window being greaterthan the consumed viewable attention of the specified recipient (i.e.the proportional exposure cap has not been satisfied), a response to thenotification is sent. A response can comprise advertising content,customized advertising content, instructions for accessing advertisingcontent, instructions for customizing advertising content, instructionsfor detecting viewability of advertising content, instructions forreporting on viewability of advertising content or combinations thereof.A response can be sent to the publisher, the recipient, or both. Afterthe response has been sent, the consumed viewable attention of therecipient can be detected again, and updated. Furthermore, a recipient'spredicted total viewable attention can vary over time, and can beupdated after the response has been sent. A recipient's consumedviewable attention, total viewable attention or both may be updatedresponsive to receiving a second notification of the opportunity toexpose the recipient to advertising content or periodically (e.g. everyhour, every fourth notification received) or responsive to detecting arecipient's change in activity level (e.g. a recipient's change in webbrowsing behavior).

Physical Components of a Computer

FIG. 4 is a high-level block diagram of the components of a computingsystem 400 for use, for example, as browser 110, consumption historyserver 120, publisher 130, advertisement exchange 140, or control system150, as depicted in FIG. 1, in accordance with an embodiment.Illustrated are at least one processor 402 coupled to a chipset 404.Also coupled to the chipset 404 are a memory 406, a storage device 408,input device(s) 410, a network adapter 412, and a graphics adapter 414.A display 416 is coupled to the graphics adapter 414. In one embodiment,the functionality of the chipset 404 is provided by a memory controllerhub 420 and an I/O controller hub 422. In another embodiment, the memory406 is coupled directly to the processor 402 instead of the chipset 404.

The processor 402 is the hardware logic circuitry of the computer 400that processes instructions such as computer programs to operate ondata. The memory 406 holds instructions and data used by the processor402. The storage device 408 is any non-transitory computer-readablestorage medium, such as a hard drive, compact disk read-only memory(CD-ROM), DVD, or a solid-state memory device. The input devices(s) 410may be a keyboard, mouse, track ball, touch-sensitive screen and/oranother type of pointing device to input data into the computer 400. Thenetwork adapter 412 couples the computer 400 to a network. The graphicsadapter 414 displays images and other information on the display 416.

As is known in the art, a computer 400 can have different and/or othercomponents than those shown in FIG. 4. In addition, the computer 400 canlack certain illustrated components. In one embodiment, a computer 400acting as a server may lack an input device 410, a graphics adapter 414,and/or a display 416. Moreover, the storage device 408 can be localand/or remote from the computer 400 (such as embodied within a storagearea network (SAN)).

As is known in the art, the computer 400 is adapted to execute computerprogram modules for providing the functionality described herein. Asused herein, the term “module” refers to computer program logic utilizedto provide the specified functionality. Thus, a module can beimplemented in hardware, firmware, and/or software. In one embodiment,program modules are stored on the storage device 408, loaded into thememory 406, and executed by the processor 402. The functionalityattributed to the modules can be performed by other or different modulesin other embodiments. Moreover, this description occasionally omits theterm “module” for purposes of clarity and convenience.

Additional Configuration Considerations

Some portions of the above description describe the embodiments in termsof algorithmic processes or operations. These algorithmic descriptionsand representations are commonly used by those skilled in the dataprocessing arts to convey the substance of their work effectively toothers skilled in the art. These operations, while describedfunctionally, computationally, or logically, are understood to beimplemented by computer programs comprising instructions for executionby a processor or equivalent electrical circuits, microcode, or thelike. Furthermore, it has also proven convenient at times to refer tothese arrangements of functional operations as modules, without loss ofgenerality. The described operations and their associated modules may beembodied in software, firmware, hardware, or any combinations thereof.

The disclosed embodiments also relate to an apparatus for performing theoperations described herein. This apparatus may be specially constructedfor the required purposes, or it may comprise a general-purpose computerselectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored on acomputer-readable medium that can be accessed by the computer. Such acomputer program may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium,such as, but is not limited to, any type of disk including floppy disks,optical disks, CD-ROMs, magnetic-optical disks, read-only memories(ROMs), random access memories (RAMs), EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic oroptical cards, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), or anytype of computer-readable storage medium suitable for storing electronicinstructions, and each coupled to a computer system bus. Furthermore,the computers referred to in this disclosure may include a singleprocessor or may be architectures employing multiple processor designsfor increased computing capability.

As used herein any reference to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment”means that a particular element, feature, structure, or characteristicdescribed in connection with the embodiment is included in at least oneembodiment. The appearances of the phrase “in one embodiment” in variousplaces in the specification are not necessarily all referring to thesame embodiment. In addition, use of the “a” or “an” are employed todescribe elements and components of the embodiments herein. This is donemerely for convenience. This description should be read to include oneor at least one and the singular also includes the plural unless it isobvious that it is meant otherwise.

As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,”“including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof, areintended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process,method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of elements is notnecessarily limited to only those elements but may include otherelements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method,article, or apparatus. Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary,“or” refers to an inclusive or and not to an exclusive or. For example,a condition A or B is satisfied by any one of the following: A is true(or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or notpresent) and B is true (or present), and both A and B are true (orpresent).

Upon reading this disclosure, those of skill in the art will appreciatestill additional alternative structural and functional designs of thedisclosed embodiments and applications. Thus, while particularembodiments and applications have been illustrated and described, it isto be understood that the present invention is not limited to theprecise construction and components disclosed herein and that variousmodifications, changes and variations which will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art may be made in the arrangement, operation and detailsof the disclosed embodiments without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving a proportionalexposure cap corresponding to a content of an advertising campaign, theproportional exposure cap comprising a fraction; responsive toreceiving, from an advertising exchange, at a first receipt time after abeginning of a time window and before an end of the time window, anotification of availability of a first opportunity to expose arecipient to the content: determining, with respect to a first period oftime from the beginning of the time window to the first receipt time, aconsumed viewable attention comprising a measure of viewable area andexposure duration of the content provided to the recipient; determininga predicted total viewable attention for the time window, the predictedtotal viewable attention comprising an estimate of viewable area andexposure duration of all viewable advertising content which will beprovided to the recipient in the time window; determining a proportionalpredicted total viewable attention by multiplying the predicted totalviewable attention by the proportional exposure cap; and responsive tothe proportional predicted total viewable attention being greater thanthe consumed viewable attention: sending a first response to theadvertising exchange comprising instructions instructing the recipient'sbrowser to retrieve the content and provide the content to be viewed bythe recipient; and responsive to receiving, from the advertisingexchange, at a second receipt time after the first receipt time andbefore the end of the time window, a notification of availability of asecond opportunity to expose the recipient to the content: determining,with respect to second period of time from the beginning of the timewindow to the second receipt time, an updated consumed viewableattention comprising a measure of viewable area and exposure duration ofthe content provided to the recipient; determining an updated predictedtotal viewable attention for the time window, the updated predictedtotal viewable attention comprising the updated estimate of viewablearea and exposure duration of all viewable content which will beprovided to the recipient in the time window; determining an updatedproportional predicted total viewable attention by multiplying theupdated predicted total viewable attention by the proportional exposurecap; and responsive to the updated proportional predicted total viewableattention being less than the updated consumed viewable attention:sending a second response to the advertising exchange comprisinginstructions instructing the recipient's browser to retrieve content ofanother advertising campaign and provide the content of the otheradvertising campaign to be viewed by the recipient.
 2. The method ofclaim 1 wherein: determining the predicted total viewable attention forthe time window comprises predicting a measure of viewable area andexposure duration for all viewable advertising content which will beprovided to the recipient through a plurality of exchanges.
 3. Themethod of claim 1 wherein: the recipient is a browser instance.
 4. Themethod of claim 1 wherein: the recipient is a mobile application.
 5. Themethod of claim 1 wherein: the recipient is a device.
 6. The method ofclaim 1 wherein: the recipient comprises two or more entities selectedfrom the set of: an application, a mobile application, a device and abrowser instance.
 7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumstoring processor-executable program instructions, that, when executed,cause a computer process to perform an adaptive control method, themethod comprising: receiving a proportional exposure cap correspondingto a content of an advertising campaign, the proportional exposure capcomprising a fraction; responsive to receiving, from an advertisingexchange, at a first receipt time after a beginning of a time window andbefore an end of the time window, a notification of availability of afirst opportunity to expose a recipient to the content: determining,with respect to a first period of time from the beginning of the timewindow to the first receipt time, a consumed viewable attentioncomprising a measure of viewable area and exposure duration of thecontent provided to the recipient; determining a predicted totalviewable attention for the time window, the predicted total viewableattention comprising an estimate of viewable area and exposure durationof all viewable advertising content which will be provided to therecipient in the time window; determining a proportional predicted totalviewable attention by multiplying the predicted total viewable attentionby the proportional exposure cap; and responsive to the proportionalpredicted total viewable attention being greater than the consumedviewable attention: sending a first response to the advertising exchangecomprising instructions instructing the recipient's browser to retrievethe content and provide the content to be viewed by the recipient; andresponsive to receiving, from the advertising exchange, at a secondreceipt time after the first receipt time and before the end of the timewindow, a notification of availability of a second opportunity to exposethe recipient to the content: determining, with respect to a secondperiod of time from the beginning of the time window to the secondreceipt time, an updated consumed viewable attention comprising ameasure of viewable area and exposure duration of the content providedto the recipient; determining an updated predicted total viewableattention for the time window, the updated predicted total viewableattention comprising the updated estimate of viewable area and exposureduration of all viewable content which will be provided to the recipientin the time window; determining an updated proportional predicted totalviewable attention by multiplying the updated predicted total viewableattention by the proportional exposure cap; and responsive to theupdated proportional predicted total viewable attention being less thanthe updated consumed viewable attention: sending a second response tothe advertising exchange comprising instructions instructing therecipient's browser to retrieve content of another advertising campaignand provide the content of the other advertising campaign to be viewedby the recipient.
 8. The medium of claim 7, wherein: determining thepredicted total viewable attention for the time window comprisespredicting a measure of viewable area and exposure duration for allviewable advertising content which will be provided to the respectiverecipient through a plurality of exchanges.
 9. The medium of claim 7,wherein: the recipient is a browser instance.
 10. The medium of claim 7,wherein: the recipient is a mobile application.
 11. The medium of claim7, wherein: the recipient is a device.
 12. The medium of claim 7,wherein: the recipient comprises two or more entities selected from theset of: an application, a mobile application, a device and a browserinstance.
 13. A system comprising: a processor; a non-transitorycomputer-readable storage medium storing processor-executable computerprogram instructions that, when executed, cause a computer process toperform an adaptive control method, the method comprising: receiving aproportional exposure cap corresponding to a content of an advertisingcampaign, the proportional exposure cap comprising a fraction;responsive to receiving, from an advertising exchange, at a firstreceipt time after a beginning of a time window and before an end of thetime window, a notification of availability of a first opportunity toexpose a recipient to the content: determining, with respect to a firstperiod of time from the beginning of the time window to the firstreceipt time, a consumed viewable attention comprising a measure ofviewable area and exposure duration of the content provided to therecipient; determining a predicted total viewable attention for the timewindow, the predicted total viewable attention comprising an estimate ofviewable area and exposure duration of all viewable advertising contentwhich will be provided to the recipient in the time window; determininga proportional predicted total viewable attention by multiplying thepredicted total viewable attention by the proportional exposure cap; andresponsive to the proportional predicted total viewable attention beinggreater than the consumed viewable attention: sending a first responseto the advertising exchange comprising instructions instructing therecipient's browser to retrieve the content and provide the content tobe viewed by the recipient; and responsive to receiving, from theadvertising exchange, at a second receipt time after the first receipttime and before the end of the time window, a notification ofavailability of a second opportunity to expose the recipient to thecontent: determining, with respect to a second period of time from thebeginning of the time window to the second receipt time, an updatedconsumed viewable attention comprising a measure of viewable area andexposure duration of the content provided to the recipient; determiningan updated predicted total viewable attention for the time window, theupdated predicted total viewable attention comprising the updatedestimate of viewable area and exposure duration of all viewable contentwhich will be provided to the recipient in the time window; determiningan updated proportional predicted total viewable attention bymultiplying the updated predicted total viewable attention by theproportional exposure cap; and responsive to the updated proportionalpredicted total viewable attention being less than the updated consumedviewable attention: sending a second response to the advertisingexchange comprising instructions instructing the recipient's browser toretrieve content of another advertising campaign and provide the contentof the other advertising campaign to be viewed by the recipient.
 14. Thesystem of claim 13, wherein: determining the predicted total viewableattention for the time window comprises predicting a measure of viewablearea and exposure duration for a all viewable advertising content whichwill be provided to the respective recipient through a plurality ofexchanges.